Gluten-free chicken fingers are so easy to make at home. Why bother with those fast-food or frozen versions with unmentionable and undesirable ingredients?
Gluten-Free Chicken Fingers Recipe
3 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup gluten-free ranch dressing (such as Hidden Valley®)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2-1/2 to 3 pounds)
1 cup cornstarch (cornflour)
1/2 cup fine cornmeal (see Notes)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed between your palms
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ground chipotle
Dipping Sauce:
1/2 cup prepared ranch dressing
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce (see Notes)
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a shallow jelly roll pan with non-stick foil or use a non-stick jelly roll pan. Measure the vegetable oil and melted butter into the prepared pan. Use a basting brush to thoroughly coat the bottom of the pan with the oil/butter mixture.
Place the milk and ranch dressing in a gallon-sized zip-top bag and squish to combine. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels. Slice each breast cross-wise into 1-inch “fingers.” Add to the milk/ranch mixture, squeeze out the air, seal, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Measure cornstarch, fine cornmeal, brown sugar, sweet paprika, salt, onion powder, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, sage, and cayenne or chipotle pepper into a large zip-top bag. Squish to combine.
Drain the chicken fingers in a colander. Add the dipped chicken fingers to the seasoned cornstarch and shake to coat. Do this in batches, being sure to shake off any excess. Discard excess coating mix.
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Place the chicken fingers in the prepared pan. Coat the tops of the chicken fingers with butter-flavored vegetable oil spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and turn the chicken fingers over. Return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes until golden. (Do not over cook or they will be come dry and chewy.)
For the Dipping Sauce:
Whisk together the ranch dressing and sweet chili sauce.
Serve the gluten-free chicken fingers with ranch chili dipping sauce.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Notes:
• If you only have regular cornmeal, no worries. Place the cornmeal in a food processor and pulse until the granules are half the original size.
• Sweet chili sauce is usually found in the Asian section of most markets. I often substitute Sweet Baby Ray’s® Sweet Chili Wing Sauce & Glaze, which is usually stocked with the barbecue sauces. It’s pretty much the same thing and often less expensive than the Asian versions.
